


You Feel It

by Ellie5192



Series: Two Birds [14]
Category: E/R (1984)
Genre: F/M, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-31
Updated: 2014-10-31
Packaged: 2018-02-23 09:04:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2541962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellie5192/pseuds/Ellie5192
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“How do you spell 'love'?" - Piglet<br/>"You don't spell it...you feel it." - Pooh<br/>― A.A. Milne</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Feel It

**Author's Note:**

> I am literally terrible, I’m so sorry for how long this has taken. You wouldn’t believe me, but the premise for the next 10 chapters is sorted. I’ve just neglected them so thoroughly that nothing has been written. Thus, you finally get an update. I love weddings but hate writing them, therefore this is my first and probably last wedding scene. Also, if any Jewish readers get totally offended by something in here, please tell me. I’ve only ever been to ‘vaguely Catholic, maybe Anglican, look, there was a prayer and some kissing’ type weddings. Beyond that, I’m hopeless.  
> This also counts as Day 24 of the MC 3.5 Countdown (and I totally missed Day 25, but maybe I’ll fill it in with a bonus post later down the line). Yay. Total fluff.

_“How do you spell 'love'?" - Piglet_

_"You don't spell it...you feel it." - Pooh_

_― A.A. Milne_

**_You Feel It_ **

“How’re you doing, Howard?”

“Don’t talk to me”

Sam just laughs and shakes his head, patting his brother on the back. They’re standing at the front of the small church, the crowd just about settled on both sides, just enough to create a sea of faces. He can see the hospital staff – those who could come – have taken up a row on Eve’s side, mainly for the space; his side is filled with crazy cousins he hasn’t seen in years, and the occasional Aunt that’s watching him disapprovingly. But all in all the gathering is quite little. For Howard, he didn’t want the fuss, and Eve’s family are scattered; only a select few could make it.

Sam leans into his brother’s side, just enough to be both solid and a little bit mocking.

“You know, you have done this before” he says, mirth colouring his tone.

Howard just eyes his brother with a smirk. “Just you wait until this happens to you. You’ll eat your words, I’ll make sure of it”

“Eat them, or choke on them?”

“Just you wait, baby brother, you’ll understand one day”

Sam just laughs again, eyeing the rear door of the church, where an office acts as the bride’s dressing room.

Inside, Eve is sitting on a stool in front of a small vanity, her sister poised behind her, applying the last of the hairspray as she affixes the veil. The whole wedding is a small event – no stylists or huge banquets. They didn’t want it, or need it, and frankly having a ceremony run almost entirely by them and their immediate family is just so much nicer. They’ll all go to the reception later, get drunk on finger food and wine, dance until their feet hurt and then head home to… well. You know.

Rachel is staying with her two older siblings for the night while Eve and Howard take a hotel room just down the street. They’re worried about her – it’ll be her first night away from them both – but after all, it is their wedding night. Rachel will survive.

“Stop fiddling with that, you’ll mess it up”

Karen swats her hand away with a huff, using just her fingertips to adjust Eve’s veil again. The dress is beautiful, if a little of its day – Eve wonders if she will look back at these pictures in twenty years’ time and cringe at how very 80s the whole look is. But she doesn’t care; not really. Today she feels like a princess. A princess that is about to lose her lunch, but royalty nonetheless.

“Karen, I’m so nervous” she says, finding herself ridiculous, but she is still unable to dissuade the mammoth that’s rolling around in her stomach. Karen can only shake her head and laugh. “I don’t know why, I mean, what’s there to be nervous about?”

“You’ve already done the hard yards” says Karen, looking at her in the mirror. As if to prove the point, young Rachel squawks in her basinet, most displeased to be missing out on the fun. She’s six months old and full of discovery – everything ends up in her mouth these days, from the keys to her mother’s hair. And she’s clingy too – something that is apparently normal, but means they can’t leave her for a minute without her fussing. Karen plans on walking her to the front, the two of them acting as bridesmaid and ring-bearer. But at this rate Eve will be carrying her down the aisle herself, instead of her bouquet. It just makes her doubt tonight’s plans again, for a moment.

Eve just chuckles at herself. “That’s true. Compared to childbirth this is nothing, right?”

“I mean really, what’s going to change after today except four days in the sun and a ring on your hand?”

Eve just nods again. Having Karen there to talk her off the ledge is certainly helping, silly as that sounds. It’s not as though she’s hearing this for the first time. But it feels so different. It shouldn’t, what with them living together, and with the baby – but it does. They’ll be married; she’ll be Howard’s _wife_. A real one, with the certificate and everything, and his name, if only in her personal life. The thought alone brings a mix of nervousness and elation.

“I can’t believe this is happening” she whispers to Karen, her voice sounding downright nervous.

Karen just laughs at her and then squeezes her shoulders in fondness. “Come on, sis. It’s time”

Eve stands and tries to gather her emotions. Rachel squawks, and Karen picks her up, shuffling her onto her hip and bracing her hand behind the baby’s back.

“Oh, my sweet girl” whispers Eve, running her hand over the fuzz on her daughter’s head. She leans in and kisses her chubby cheek, and just narrowly avoids tiny fingers embedding themselves in her veil and undoing all of Karen’s hard work.

“Alright” she says, squaring her shoulders and straightening up, picking up the neat little bouquet of flower on the dresser. “Time to go”

“You don’t have to act like you’re going into battle” says Karen with a grin.

“Have you met my future husband? It’s going to be war for the rest of my life”

All that earns her is another laugh and a soft shove to the shoulder to get her to move out the door. She does, and from the corner at the back of the church she nods to the organist – a kindly old man who has been a member of the parish since probably the Great War.

Karen moves past her, Rachel in her arms, and it looks as though the baby will survive at least to the end of the aisle. “Good luck. I love you” she whispers. Eve can only smile, afraid that if she returns the sentiment she’ll start crying and ruin her make-up.

She wishes her father could walk her today. He is sitting in the front row on her side of the church, next to Thor who is taking exceptional care of him. But with his health decline in recent years he can’t move without a walker, and even then he is limited. It breaks her heart, but she consoles herself that he is at least here for her today. He gets to watch her do this, and that’s more than she had a right to hope for.

Waiting a few paces for Karen to start walking, Eve finally moves square to the centre of the aisle, and right there – just a few short yards in front of her – is Howard. He’s fidgeting, she can see, and Sam is smirking like he’s making fun of his brother, which she figures he probably is. But oh god, this sight is just unbelievable. There he is, right in front of her. Her line of sight is briefly interrupted as Rachel waves a fist in her direction, pursing her little mouth over her aunt’s shoulder. Eve is briefly overwhelmed.

And then she starts walking. Nothing as traditional as the old step-and-pause-and-step, but slow enough anyway. Howard is wearing a decorative Kippah bought especially for this day, as is Sam, but other than a few nods here and there, religion has not played a large role in this affair; Howard did the full Jewish wedding with wife one, and a toned-down version with wife two, and Eve is not especially sentimental about ceremony. They’ll step on a glass later for his sake, exchange wedding rings for hers, and they chose a couple of fairly neutral Old Testament passages for the reading, but it’s low-key. Probably another reason Howard’s elderly aunt keeps giving her funny looks.

No matter. Howard’s relatives are the furthest from her mind right now. Instead she is enthralled in watching him. He’s staring, slack-jawed and bug-eyed at her. She thinks she’s knocked him sideways, which makes her blush. He can probably see the rose on her cheeks too, because she opted not to have a veil over her face, and after staring at her for a few solid moments he smirks. Such a cocky shit. She smirks right back just to show him that she’s still in charge of her senses.

As she reaches the front of the church her father stands from his seat right at the edge of the pew, wobbly on his feet, but determined enough that Eve knows he planned it all along. He takes her hands in his and she almost bursts into tears.

“I’m so proud of you” he says lowly, raising her hands to his lips and kissing the backs of her knuckles. “And I know your mother is too”

“I love you” she replies, and wraps her arms briefly around him, very tightly. Someone just over her shoulder sniffs loudly. She thinks it might be Julie, but can’t be sure.

Her father takes her arm and steps with her the two paces towards Howard, then takes his hand and places Eve’s in it, clasping them together. “You take care of my girls” he says.

“I certainly will, Sir”

It’s the final straw for Eve, who has to extract one of her hands to wipe away a stray tear. She kisses her father’s cheek, and then Karen steps forward and leads him back to his seat, taking her place next to him with Rachel on her knee. At some point in all that Karen had handed Sam the rings to hold, but nobody really noticed. The baby gurgles and Howard and Eve both smile at her.

They step to the front, facing the pastor, still holding hands, and then turn and face each other once more.

“Hi” he whispers.

“Hi”

And then it’s all a blur. She says what she has to say, obviously, caught up in the moment and all. But between watching Howard watch her, and feeling his hand in hers, and feeling the eyes of all their friends and family on them, everything just fades away. Her throat is dry and her pulse is pounding. At one point Howard notices the latter – she feels his finger slide subtly to her wrist, feeling the thump against his index, and he smiles at her and quirks an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything. She blushes again, but just grins back, reassuring him that these are good nerve; that it’s a nice heart palpitation.

They exchange short vows, not very personalised because, after all, with their infant in the front row there’s no question about having, holding, cherishing, or where they see their life going together. They turn to Sam for their rings – single, plain gold, which suits them both just fine. And then finally – _finally_ – the pastor says the magic words.

“You may kiss the bride”

In an absolute flurry Howard sweeps her off her feet, kissing her breathless. Just this once, despite her objections to these kinds of displays, she kisses him right back, and at some point grabs hold of his lapels to pull him just that bit closer. They conduct what can only be considered a significant make-out session, right there next to the alter. A picture from it will become their favourite wedding shot, framed on their bedroom wall – Eve’s hands buried in Howard’s suit, keeping him close, and Howard’s arms firmly around her lower back, dipping her slightly backwards. They’re both smiling into the kiss, eyes closed. They look blissfully happy.

There’s whoops and cheers, mostly from Eve’s side – a combination of crazy relatives and the hospital staff – though a few of Howard’s younger cousin’s join in, and the distinct tone of Jenny and David can be heard in the mix too. Just as they’re pulling apart, Rachel mewls loudly, throwing her arms up and down. Everybody laughs at her.

“Welcome to the rest of our lives” whispers Howard in her ear as she’s grinning out over the crowd.

She turns to him again. “I love you, Howard”

And then they turn and walk down the aisle, hand-in-hand, husband and wife.


End file.
